Reading Notes: Just Fucking Ship

Whenever you look around, you know what you should be doing: creating
and launching and selling a product, bootstrapping a business on the
side. You’re smart. You’re capable. You’ve got the skills to make
stuff [&mldr;] why can’t you just make this happen? [&mldr;] We’ll teach you
21 principles for getting off your butt and finally shipping.
(official site)

This is soup to nuts guide to the human aspects of shipping a side
project. It’s not going to teach you how to design a logo or a code a
website, but if what’s holding you back from completing your dream is
lack of confidence, disorganization, over-ambition, etc., then this
could be the book for you.

My own behavor baffles me. For I find myself not doing what I
really want to do, but doing what I really loathe&mldr;I often find
that I have the will to do good, but not the power. – St. Paul,
Romans 7:15-24

Who can’t identify with this even today? Akrasia affects us all
at one point or another. I also appreciate his division between will
and “power”.

Also:

We do not wish ardently for what we desire only through reason. –
Francois de la Rochefoucauld

An important point, reminding me of
Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, from which
the metaphor about motivation requiring the coordination of both The
Rider (reason) and The Elephant (our powerful but coaxable emotional
elements).

Yet JFS dismantles the (limiting) belief that we have to be in love
with our product domain by pointing out that&mldr;

You don’t even need passion for the project itself. Or the topic
area. I’m not passionate about time tracking, but I love running
Freckle Time Tracking (which just turned 6 years old!). What I love
is creating something that makes people happy and helps them run
better businesses and creates a great life for me, my husband, &
my team. (pg. 9)

I’m also particularly fond of the checklist of things to watch out for
when sizing up a project (having personally fallen prey to a couple of
these, and generally loving checklists):

moving parts

dependencies

crazy big ambitions

complexity

gatekeepers, whose approval you “require”

for people who might let you down (on purpose or otherwise)

for reinventing the wheel

Last but not least, I love that the book includes a “How to use this
guide” section, something I think every book aiming at changing
behavior should do. About which more later.